Sowing and reaping

OT references are mainly agricultural with regulatory laws covering crop production and festivals of thanksgiving. God's blessing was reflected in the harvest. The NT refers more to the spiritual sowing and reaping that takes place in the kingdom of God.

Regulations concerning the sowing and reaping of crops

You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

The Sabbath-rest for the land and its cultivators

Exodus 23:10–11, Exodus 34:21; Leviticus 25:3–5, Leviticus 25:11

Reaping a good harvest is a blessing from God

It is a consequence of obedience

Genesis 26:12; Leviticus 25:18–22, Leviticus 26:3–5, Leviticus 26:10

It is a promise to the remnant of God's people

Amos 9:13–14 See also Isaiah 30:23, Isaiah 62:8–9, Isaiah 65:21–22; Jeremiah 31:5; Zechariah 8:11–12

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow. I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

God's judgment on Israel is reflected in reaping a poor harvest

A poor yield of crops

Leviticus 26:18–20; Deuteronomy 28:15, Deuteronomy 28:38–40; Isaiah 5:10, Isaiah 17:10–11; Jeremiah 8:13, Jeremiah 12:13; Haggai 1:6, Haggai 1:10–11

The harvesting of one's crops by others

Leviticus 26:15–16 See also Nehemiah 9:36–37; Job 31:7–8; Jeremiah 5:17; Micah 6:15

and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

Proverbs and poems of sowing and harvest

Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 20:4; Isaiah 28:23–29

Moral and spiritual sowing and reaping

Good and evil

As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.

Sowing and reaping in the kingdom of God

Mark 4:3–8 parallels Matthew 13:3–8, Luke 8:5–8 See also Matthew 13:18–23 parallels Mark 4:14–20, Luke 8:11–15; Matthew 13:24–30, Matthew 13:37–39; Mark 4:26–29

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop — one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.”

The certainty of reaping

Psalm 126:5–6; Galatians 6:9

Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Reaping where others have sown

Reaping a material harvest from spiritual sowing

1 Corinthians 9:9–11

People and nations are reaped for judgment

Joel 3:13 See also Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11; Revelation 14:15–19

Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.

Metaphorical use of sowing and reaping

Isaiah 5:1–7, Isaiah 17:4–6; Jeremiah 2:3, Jeremiah 2:21; 1 Corinthians 15:35–44; 2 Corinthians 9:6–11